Pages

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

On Book View Cafe blog, Laura Anne Gilman offers some savvy perspective on surviving the dry spells. She writes,

"Remember,
a few weeks ago, when I said that every career has its ups and downs?
That not even bestsellers hit it out of the park every time? Awards
don’t always equal sales, sales aren’t always enough, readers’ tastes
change, and so do publishers. Careers rise…and they fall.

Sometimes,
it’s obvious. Sometimes it’s not. You might keep working, but at
lower advances to match lower sales. Or you might not be able to sell
another book, no matter how good, how smart, how interesting the books
are."

We all need the reminder that publishing is cyclical
and that many elements are beyond our control. We needs ways of staying
in touch with why we became writers in the first place. We also need
survival strategies so we can pay the bills, whether we get unrelated
day jobs or not.

Years ago, Marion Zimmer Bradley said something
to me in passing, only a few words, but they stuck with me. She said
that along with her current commercial novel, she was writing something
for her own pleasure. Most of us — well, me, certainly — began writing
because we loved it, and we wrote the stories we wanted to read. Our
secret delights. One of the pitfalls of professional publishing is that
we risk turning off that part of our writing minds. We chase the market
instead of delighting our inner readers. And yet those inner readers can
be our best allies during hard times. Along with fellow writers who
have been there and lived to tell the tale.

Epublishing,
self-publishing, are game-changers. At least, I think they are. But what
do I know? I have so little sense of the market, it's pathetic. I know
what I love to read and it isn't always what sells. However, one thing I
am reasonably sure of: publishing is in flux and we don't know how it's
all going to fall out. Just as Gilman talks about a dry spell as a
creative opportunity, new methods of publishing open doors. That's one
reason that ventures like Book View Cafe,
where established pro writers and editors can pool their talents,
publishing not only out-of-print treasures but new material, are so
exciting.

Sat Nov 3 5:00pm-6:00pm: Are Book Publishers Obsolete? With the ebook market growing daily, access to that market open to anyone, and Amazon paying authors royalties of 70%, are traditional book publishers headed they way of the dodo, or are the editorial and marketing services offered by publishers indispensable, regardless of publishing format? Can publishers find a way to adapt (and remain profitable) in theebook age, and what does the question mean to authors? Deborah J. Ross, M.K. Hobson, Irene Radford, Jason V Brock, Bill Johnson

Sun Nov 4 11:00am-12:00pm: Characters with disabilities. Readers are used to athletic, clever characters who are basically healthy for most of the story. But some of the most unique characters out there have a disability of some sort. Storytelling opportunities, and how to get it right. Michael Alexander, Kamila Miller, Bart Kemper, Nisi Shawl, Deborah J. Ross

Friday, October 26, 2012

Even before Kithri stepped through the
doorway, she recognized Brianna=s
voice.

"--positive evidence it=s
the same. I=ve
spent a whole year studying this site and--"

Lennart spotted Kithri and jumped to
his feet. He and Brianna had been sitting on a low bench in a large, light-filled
room. Kithri caught a glimpse of his unbruised face before he enveloped her in
a hug.

"They swore that magic ointment
would fix you..." Lennart ran one hand over Kithri=s
face, touching the lip that had been cut.

If it had been me with Red-hair instead
of Brianna, Kithri thought, he would have tried just as hard to stop
him. She flinched and took a step backwards.

Brianna stood up. She too wore a belted
one-piece tunic with a translator panel across her chest, but on her figure it
looked alluringly feminine. There were no traces of the hollows around her eyes
or the patchy texture to her skin that had appeared with her first capture by
the pirates.

Kithri looked away. She didn=t
want to be reminded of how willing she=d
been to let Brianna suffer. "You=re
all right, too."

"As you can see," Brianna
said stiffly.

Kithri=s eyes darted around the room, the low
broad bench, the two blank walls and third wall of shallow built-in shelving
covered with mysterious-looking glass objects. Raerquel had disappeared, along
with any trace of the door. "Where=s
Eril?"

"Still recuperating, is my best
guess," said Lennart.

Kithri caught the undertones of worry
in his voice. Acid filled her mouth and a throb of pain shot through her
temples. Even though her physical injuries were healed, some part of her was
still back with the pirates, still holding on...

"Did you recognize the city when
you were outside?" Brianna asked suddenly.

"It looks just like yours, except
for the color," Kithri said.

"Come here, look at this."
Brianna grabbed Kithri=s
hand and pulled her to the far wall, where rows of clear glass artifacts lined
the shallow shelves. She picked up a crystal tube, colorless and unmarked, and
handed it to Kithri. It felt warm and very slightly supple, not like ordinary
glass.

Kithri wondered if it would shatter it
she hurled it against the opposite wall.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Fantasy and horror have a natural affinity, one that goes
back to the pre-literate times when people sat around the campfire, terrifying each
other with stories of ghosts and skin-walkers and
things-that-go-bump-in-the-night or that-are-not-quite-dead. Supernatural
elements infused these tales with delightful spine-tingling shivers. One might
speculate that way back then, the entire world must have seemed a perilous
place, filled with phenomena beyond human understanding. I think that does a
discredit to peoples who might have a much lower level of technology than we do
but were nonetheless extremely sophisticated in their conceptualization and
emotional understanding of the world around them. For all our computers and
skyscrapers, we are just as enthralled by the uncanny and that jolt of adrenaline.

Nightmare by Gauguin

Of course, as individuals we vary in what is pleasurable to
us. One person’s fun may be the trigger that causes months of terrifying nightmares
for another person. This is especially true for people who have themselves been
the victims of trauma, whether the assault has come in the form of physical violence
or from psychological or emotional abuse. Reading horror or dark fantasy is not
an approved method of psychotherapy, but encountering these stories mindfully
can shift our perspective. Good fiction of any kind does not “stay on the page”
but has the power to change the way we see ourselves and our lives. Horror, by
its focus on frightening elements, carries a particular emotional punch.

Friday, October 19, 2012

A letter from Steve Berman of Lethe Press. If you haven't checked them out, this might be the time (and you don't have to be gay to enjoy great stories that feature gay characters).

October
is our favorite month. I adore pumpkins and Halloween. Daulton likes
the way the sunlight streams into the room. Our patrons love our
particular brand of queer speculative fiction--not merely a book with a
few gay trappings laced over romance with vampires or shifters, but
real, quality fantasy and science-fiction lauded in the pages of Publishers Weekly.

You
deserve such books. You deserve quality memoirs that are honest with
emotion and empathy. You deserve new fairy tales for the modern day
world. That's why Lethe exists.

We
don't hide behind any costumes. We don't need to. We embrace our true
face, whether it be wondrous or mysterious. There is a reason why our
books have been finalists (or won) a variety of awards such as the Andre
Norton (young adult spec fic), the Shirley Jackson (dark and
fantastic), the Golden Crown Literary (lesbian titles), and yes, even
that Lammy. We offer treats rather than tricks (I'm sure plenty of our
readers like a bit of both, so I recommend you seek whimsy in our
fiction than toilet papering your neighbor).

No
light, no taste. Silence. Anesthetic numbness filmed her skin. Her
mouth--surely she should have a mouth below her sightless eyes. Her mouth--open
or closed, she could not tell. Teeth and tongue, lips--were they wet or dry or
coated with a thick gel?

Kithri
struggled to pull herself upright, but there was no sensation of muscles
contracting or joints flexing, no tug of gravity to orient herself in space. No
change to prove she had actually moved.

I
must be dead, then,
she thought, and fled back into unconsciousness.

oOo

Some
time later, she woke again. Her skin was slick and icy, her first reaction one
of relief to be feeling something again, even if it was unpleasant. After a few
moments, she noticed the feathery swish of air through her lungs. Her chest
rose and fell rhythmically. Something flat pressed against her back, firm but
not hard.

If
she could feel her body, then she was still alive. And if she was not dead at
the hands of the pirates, then what she had seen before she blacked out must be
real and not an hallucination born of dying brain cells.

An
image flashed unbidden across Kithri's
mind.

Man-high
and twice as long, the rounded body had tapered upwards, like a mound of silver
jelly drawn erect at one end. Four plate-like discs covered the highest tip.
Below them, boneless appendages uncurled and lengthened, reaching for her--

No,
don't think about that!

--and
there had been a voice, she remembered, two voices, deep and resonant.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Red-hair
gripped Kithri's
elbow as she led them past archways of splintered topaz and amber. Sunlight
fractured against the ruined lacework and spilled ribbons of color over the
pirates' pale skins. They made no comment
as they marched along, grinding the shards under their heavy space boots.

She
guided them around another corner, three turns and then back down the long
avenue where free-standing walls made a maze of light and shadow. The tension
in Red-hair's hands increased as they went
along, the group bunching closer together. Spacebred, they relied heavily on
their navigational instruments, while Kithri's years in the brush had
developed both her directional sense and a keen memory for landmarks. Now she
prayed to all the powers of luck and space they were truly as disoriented as
they seemed.

I
must pretend I've
been here before.

Kithri
kept her features impassive as she identified her goal, a truncated green
pyramid located diagonally across a plaza bordered by hedges of intricate
braided crystals. She squelched any temptation to pause and stare at its
perfect balance and grace.

She
stepped through the doorway and into the spacious central chamber. The opaque,
mint-colored threshold muffled the tread of the men's boots.

The
interior was surprisingly bright, considering the thickness of the deep-hued
emerald walls and the absence of windows. A shallow, unrailed balcony ringed
the central chamber. Kithri's
eyes raced across the shadowed doorways as she searched for the entrance
Brianna had described.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Mountain's Call by Caitlin Brennan.
Under her various pen names, Judith Tarr has long been one of my
favorite authors, particularly when she writes about horses. This book
is full of horse-magic, the usual kind because they're so marvelous and
the special kind created by the "white gods" of Aurelia as they Dance
the patterns of the world. One moment they're ordinary "fat white
ponies," but don't let that fool you. We all know their wisdom and power
run far, far deeper. I especially loved how their motives and values
are not always clear -- they truly are mysterious as well as magical.In
this world, the stability of the realm is maintained by a meticulously
executed equestrian Dance, very much akin to the performances of the
Lippizan horses of the Spanish Riding Academy of Vienna. The riders
train all their lives for ii, in partnership with the magnificent white
stallions. Historically, only boys have been Called (as in the title of
the book) to the riding school, so when our heroine Valeria shows up,
and then bonds with a young stallion of exceptional power, the reactions
range from bewilderment to outright hostility. She then becomes a prime
target for recruitment into a plot to usurp the throne and the very
fabric of the kingdom. Suffice it to say, divided loyalties, not to
mention schemes and betrayals ensue. Because the book appears under the
"Luna" imprint of Harlequin Books, there is of course a love story.
Actually, depending on how you look at it, more than one. But fantasy
readers won't be disappointed, as the story, the first part of three, is
anything but formulaic with its independent, earthy heroine, two
dashing lovers, and of course the magical white horses. This one
definitely belongs on the bookshelf of every fantasy reader and horse
lover.

Friday, October 5, 2012

"Stand
away from her, both!" The voice repeated in the same staccato bark.
"With respect to the blaster I hold, unless you desire to become imitation
of city dust!"

Kithri
raised her hands and slowly got to her feet, her back to the voice. From the
corner of her vision, she saw Lennart do the same. What a dustbug idiot she'd been, so sure of herself. Now
the three of them were in the pirates' clutches, with no one left free to plan a real rescue, and it was her own
damned fault.

She
wondered fleetingly if she could snatch the stungun from her belt, whirl
around, and aim it before the pirate could fire his blaster.

Talk
about idiotic ideas!

"Fellows!
Turn slowly around."

Kithri
obeyed. It was the bald head, Teeg, a glistening black egg on stilts. In one
fist he held a wide-muzzled pistol of dull orange metal. A squirrelly looking
pirate in blue knelt over the one she=d
stunned. Behind them moved a shadow of a man of their height but thinner and
red-haired.

"No
fellow, this. Female!" The squirrelly one grinned in Kithri's direction. She decided he must
be Quick, Teeg's
second.

Red-hair
slipped forward and proceeded to search both prisoners with ruthless
efficiency. When her turn came, Kithri tried not to flinch from the soft,
intrusive patting of his hands. He tugged the stungun free from her belt and
tossed it to his leader. Quick bent once more over the inert pirate. Kithri
heard the click of a metallic instrument, and then groans as the two stunned
man regained consciousness.

Without
speaking, Quick and Red-hair hauled the other pirates to their feet. Kithri
found the silence between them almost as unnerving as Red-hair's lingering touch as he tied her
wrists behind her back and pushed her forward. Quick slung Brianna's body across his shoulders and
followed.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Hello and welcome back for the second part of a fascinating discussion of animals in fantasy.

Valjeanne Jeffers: The Newest Nonhumans on the
Block.

My decision to write about shape
shifters and animals—especially werewolves—
was first met with shock...by me. When I was growing up, and until say
the last ten or so years, the cast of animals in science fiction/fantasy was
pretty limited. You had your choice of evil and doomed or tragic and doomed.
Either way somebody, usually your animal, was doomed. Remember the “salt
monster” from the original Star Trek series? It was a beast with no other
desire than to assume the shapes of the crew—like a deadly
chameleon. All the better to suck the salt from your body
until you're dead. That was pretty much the fare of traditional SF films and
books.

Whenever I sat down to watch a
werewolf film, I already knew the beginning and the end. I already knew the
skinny. It definitely wasn't cheerful. Some poor man or woman got bitten or
scratched and went through a period of: “I can't believe this is happening
to me!” Then eventually, like The American Werewolf In London, they
all turned into hairy, psycho killers and proceeded to murder anyone unlucky
enough to get in their way—including their own family
members. That was the traditional SF nonhuman. That was his or her fate.

So why would I chose such a tragic protagonist? Now the plot, as they say,
thickens. There is a nontraditional SF animal, oftentimes also a shape
shifter, that has made his/her way into the SF/fantasy genre. These new animals
or shape shifters can be loosely grouped into two categories: a thinking being
that thwarts the heroine or hero, or one that helps them on their journey.

In The Talisman by Stephen
King and Peter Straub, a science fiction/horror odyssey, there is a whole host
of supernatural creatures: werewolves, were-goats,lizards... some good, some malevolent, but
all with human intellect—a sharp break from the
traditional werewolf formula. In fact, “Wolf,” a gentle, werewolf is pivotal to
the hero's success. When Wolf runs with the moon, he too becomes a killing
machine, losing his human ability to think and reason. Yet Wolf's humanity,
unlike that of his literary forefathers, conquers this brutal calling.

But animals such as the talking
familiars of A. Jarrell's Detecting Magic With Dick Hunter, and the magical crow of Balogun
Ojetade's Once Upon a Time in Afrika showcase animals that completely
belong to a new breed of SF/Fantasy animals.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Some of you may remember the science fiction novel I read from at 2004
Gaylaxicon (and have been asking me ever since when it's coming out). To
connect it with my previous science fiction, it'll be under the name
Wheeler.

Collaborators: a complex tale of occupation and resistance, conspiracies, rebellions, gender, and power.

We’re pleased to announce the acquisition of Collaborators,
a new science fiction novel by Deborah Wheeler. Noted for numerous
short stories, two novels, and, as Deborah J. Ross, her continuation of
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series, Wheeler now offers a deep
exploration of the gendered gaze and takes the reader behind the eyes of
the other, from both directions, in a fast-moving tale of occupation
and resistance.

A crippled Terran spaceship makes orbit around
Bandar, a planet whose gender-fluid native race teeters on the brink of
international war. As misunderstandings mount, violence escalates.
Ultimately, it is up to the people on both sides who have suffered the
deepest losses to find a way to reconciliation. About Collaborators,
acclaimed writer C. J. Cherryh wrote, “This is first-rate
world-building from a writer gifted with soaring imagination and good
old-fashioned Sense of Wonder.”

“We’re really excited to work with Deborah, and proud to publish Collaborators,”
says managing editor Gabrielle Harbowy. “It’s an intimate exploration
of power, gender, and sexuality set in a richly-imagined world.”

Monday, October 1, 2012

The mid-1980s were a time of change and exploration for women science fiction writers. Marketing departments kept trying to shoehorn these new voices into established molds, and the writers kept introducing new concerns, new ways of looking at story, world-building, relationships, and characters. One of these writers was Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, creator of the "Nuala" series.

Fire Sanctuary, the first published "Nuala" book, immediately drew me into a richly complex story. Despite the external military/political threat (the planet lies between two warring empires and gets caught in the cross-fire, imperiling the already fragile colony), this story transcended the action-adventures of its time. Kimbriel set up a colony of scientists, abandoned on a marginally habitable but gorgeous planet; one of the first things they did was to declare Nuala a political sanctuary. High natural radiation led to widespread impairment of fertility, so rather than imprisoning those fertile individuals (as in The Handmaid's Tale), Kimbriel gives us stable multiple-partner marriages and loving relationships, with the exception of the ruling family, who must go off-planet to seek the mates with whom to produce healthy children. The openness of communication about sexual and emotional relationships set the Nuala universe apart. Kimbriel portrays the relationships and principles with sensitivity and intelligence, rather than the glorification of "free love" so prevalent in male-oriented science fiction of that time.

Contact Deborah

Profile

Subscribe To

Follow by Email

Subscribe to my newsletter

My shiny newsletter includes snippets of stories in progress, free ebooks and other swag, articles on writing craft, submission information for anthologies, favorite recipes, and a ton of other cool stuff. Sign up here.

Proud member of Book View Cafe

Check out my ebooks here. When you buy through Book View Cafe, 9o% of the proceeds goes to the authors themselves.